


Time Nothing But Time

by bushie1313



Series: Daniel's Story [3]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29947935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bushie1313/pseuds/bushie1313
Series: Daniel's Story [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1749124
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Time Nothing But Time

Elisabeth and John worked on Susan and Daniel for a month. Before they were satisfied, they could be moved out of the tank. The head of the burn unit was amazed at what they were able to do; he asked them if they could help; in other cases, both John and Izzy agreed they would. They were stronger, but they were still in comas. Mom and dad had them moved to mercy General by the end of the next week. They had some scaring, but Elisabeth and John did what they could. Trying to save their legs was the hard part, and this was where most of the scaring occurred. Would they ever be able to walk again? This was the question that plagued Elisabeth’s mind. Their fur color had changed as well; they both had white backs and sides; Their old color was on their chests and inside their arms. This fur was protected when They hugged each other. Their ears were different as well, Susan’s ears were shorter, and the black spot was gone. The rounded part of Daniel’s ears was more pronounced, and they were shorter as well.

The Chief and the commissionaire had agreed that Nick and Judy would take over the cold case division. Most of the precinct was happy for them, but a few still saw Nick as a shifty fox who schemed his way into that position. They proved they could do the job when they solved a ten-year-old cold case a month after taking over that division. Vivian and Bonnie went every day to the hospital, Bonnie would bound onto their bed, and cuddling between them, tell them about her day. Before she left, she made each of them try to squeeze her ball, but there was no response from her parents. She did not give up hope, though; Gab had told her to trust and wait. Peter came in every day as well; he just held Vi as Bonnie talked to her parents.

How to describe where we are? There are no words in our language to describe it. Were we floating or on a solid surface? Were we breathing? Or not? Were we balls of power, or were we ourselves? All of these thoughts went through our heads as we were where we were at. We talked over what we had done and came to the realization we screwed up and didn't deserve any of the good in our lives. We were supposed to go back, but this was not back. So, we waited and talked, and as we spoke, we became better at communicating. Till finally, it happened.

_“Hello, you two, welcome to my domain.” At this, we found ourselves standing in front of a kindly old water buffalo. Strange, he looked just like chief Bogo, but he has a different voice; it is very mellow. “You probably have lots of questions, but time is short or long, depending on how you look at it.” “Time,”? “Why yes, time is my domain. Here time passes as I decree, I can stretch one second out to a lifetime, or take a lifetime and shrink it down to one second". “Why are we here, sir”? “Why, I wanted to meet the individuals who have Ockny in a knot. I haven’t seen him this worked up since… oh, I really can’t remember how long, but it has defiantly been a long time. Tell me, if you had time, what would you do with it”?_

_What a strange question, what would we do with time? We talk it over for a few and turn back to the buffalo. "We would spend more time thinking through our decisions.” “Very good; time is of the essence in some cases. But I see you are troubled by one thought, what is it"? we hang our heads, “We killed another individual. We broke one of God’s laws”. “So, you are beating yourselves up over his death”? “Yes, we are, and the fact we used power to do it.” “Do you think the outcome would have been different if you had more time to think of a better solution”? “Yes, we do.” “Then let’s examine that.”_

And back, we went into our memories and the past. We looked at many situations where we did things differently. We went in with S.W.A.T., and the whole of Zootopia was destroyed. We went in with mom and dad. They were sucked dry of life force. Carl escaped, Zootopia was destroyed. We didn’t go in; Carl had two more days, he found some homeless people sucked them empty, Zootopia was destroyed. We tried to disarm the bomb with Mavis’s help, Zootopia is destroyed. You get the picture. In all of the scenarios, Zootopia was destroyed, except for one, the one we chose or ones like it.

“ _So, as you can see, you took the only scenario where Zootopia wasn't destroyed. You two saved over fourteen-million souls. This is why Ockny wasn't too harsh on you, he could see what I have just shown you, and before you ask, yes, it may have never gotten to this end if you had done something different in the past, but that is a very uncertain outcome. Let me tell you about Yin and Yang and your use of it._

_You know that all life force has a positive and a negative, Yin and the other is Yang. Think of a circle that is split down the middle; both halves are equal. Now think of a small dot of opposite power on each side. On the Yin side is a small dot of Yang power, and on the Yang side is a small dot of Yin power. Another way of looking at this is that there is a little bad for every good outcome, and for every bad outcome, there is always a little good. This is a bit of oversimplification, but I think you now get my drift”. “So, you’re saying we couldn’t have pulled off saving Zootopia if we had let Carl live.” “No, that’s not what I’m saying, but what choice did you have? He was going to kill you two one way or another". Susan and I hug, "So, are the two of you ready to learn"? "What are we learning, sir"? "Why I thought you said you needed time to think through your decisions, I'm here to teach you about time. Your new lessons begin now"._

We spent years subjectively with father time. We started to call him that when he refused to give us his name. He kept on telling us he had many names over the years, and any one of them was as good as another. We learned how to manipulate time. We could speed it up or slow it down. He taught us how to look at our decisions and to make the best one possible. We could slow down time to look at all the possible outcomes, but it was only a few minutes ahead. We asked about going back in time, but he forbids us to try, that was his dominion, and like Ockny, he didn’t like his toes stepped on. We promised we wouldn’t, but he just gave us a look.

_We came back to the meadow and curled around each other as Gab walked over. If we could have dug a hole and crawled in, we would have. But Gab smiled at us and gave us his forgiveness. We cried as he pulled us into his embrace. He did something strange at this point; he purred as he licked us both. We eventually turned to face a smiling Gab. “Feeling any better now, you two”? “No, Gab, we must be the biggest disappointment you have ever had” He laughs, “No, far from it, you are up there, but far from the biggest.” “How can you forgive us? When we killed with power, we loved him to death.” “He laughs harder, “Oh, how I’ve missed that sense of humor, Yes, you did use power to eliminate him, but he was going to do the same thing to you two. He had not been thinking straight for many years before that. You just made him see the light of day, from within, mind you”. We gave small chuckles; “I guess we did, didn’t we”? "Now, you need to go back; someone misses you deeply." With that, we found ourselves back in our bodies._

Wilma, the night nurse, was playing cards with the night orderlies, and they were losing all their money to her. They weren’t playing with much, just a hundred pennies each. When the life sign monitors of two of the coma patients went nuts, they looked over to the monitors and sighed, “It looks like it went haywire again. Do you want to get it this time”? Russel stands up, “I’ll get it; Wilma has got most of my money anyway.” He walks over to the bed in question (why are these two in the same bed?) He thinks. He pulls back the curtain and hears the croak, “Water.” He turns the light on low and looks at them; they are both looking back at him.

Well, the scat hits the fan. He runs back to the night nurse and drags her back to the bed. "Water," they both hear. She runs to the small kitchenette in the ward and gets some water and orange juice. This has not happened in a long time. All the time she has been a long-term care nurse, only two other patients have woken up. They did it at home, not in the ward, but they did wake up. She tries to remember their names when it comes to her. It's them; they have woken up for the second time. She rings for the night doctor on call. Tom Thomas, the night doctor, who’s on call, comes down to the ward.

Tom checks them over; they are as well as can be expected. Their motor functions appear to be good, and they seem to be alert. “Well, you two, I’m sure your family would like to see you awake; I'll just go call them." "Please, sir, don't let them sleep; tomorrow will be soon enough." "If you're sure,"? "Yes, we’re sure. Can we get something to eat, please”? He laughs, “You sure can, but I’m afraid all we have is toast and tofu.” “That would be fine; we’re both vegans.”

While we were waiting for something to eat, I looked at Susan and stared deeply into her forest-green eyes. When did she get green eyes? And our color, wow, was that different. Susan now had a grey ring around her white chest, and I had a burnt umber ring around my white chest; the inside of our arms, and our bodies where our arms were, was our old color as well. We were all over white otherwise. I reached for her ears at the same time she reaches for mine. I found out her ears were more sensitive than before, the same as mine. Our hearing was more acute, as well. But our legs we saw were the worst part of our bodies; it would take a lot of work to get them right again. They brought us some toast, tofu, and tea, and we passed out after eating. We asked them to tell no one we were awake; tomorrow would be soon enough. We woke up at shift change, had breakfast, talked with the new nurse and orderlies, and asked them to tell no one we were awake. We fell back to sleep. It was just before nine when Bonnie and grandma came in. Bonnie bounds onto our bed, and sitting between us, began to speak. Peter came in as well and just held Grandma.

“Morning, mom and dad, sleep well? I’m doing as well as can be expected. Grandma has signed me up for some gymnastics classes, and I have my first competition later this week. I wish you could be there. William has come up with some new gadgets, and he says he should have the new replicators working before the end of the month. Elisabeth and John should be here shortly to look you both over. Come back to me, please; I miss you both. Oh, it’s my birthday today, could you give me the bestest birthday gift ever, by waking up? She lays a ball in Susan and I’s paws. “Can you both squeeze the balls for me, please? Come on, try, Please”?

"No, Bonnie, your mother, and I want to squeeze you instead." We reach up and drag her down between us and hug the life out of her. She shrieks out her joy. Peter and Vivian Look over as Bonnie shrieks. Grandma gets tears in her eyes as her paws fly to her muzzle; Peter smiles, looking down at her. "Peter Howler, if you knew about this and didn't tell me…. The spare room down the hall is yours for a month". "No, my love, I didn't know, but I had heard through the grapevine that something unexpected had happened last night; I didn't know these two had woken up." "you're off the hook for now… but if I find out differently…". They just hug each other tightly.

We sit up, holding Bonnie between us. She starts to bawl as we sit up and continue to hold her tight. Grandma and grandpa hug us both from either side. This was how Elisabeth and John found us a few minutes later. They just wrapped their arms around us as well. We are like this for about five minutes. They then slowly all peel away from us and just stand there looking at us. Elisabeth and John both start to cry, “I’m sorry, Daniel, Susan, we couldn’t save your original legs. We had to grow you and Susan some new ones. We don’t know if they will work right, or at all”. “It’s ok, sis, we will live with it. How did Susan get green eyes”? “I have green eyes”? “You do, Susan, your original eyes were destroyed at a cellular level; John and I copied our eyes to you both and rebuilt them in our image. If you look at your legs and hind paws, we tried to rebuild what was there, but there wasn't enough viable material left. We started a regrow on them after they were amputated; your D.N.A. was so messed up, and the stem cells in your bodies couldn't decide whether you had bunny paws or fox paws; hence we don’t know if they will work or at all”. I reach down and uncover our hind paws; yes, they are a mix of fox and bunny paws. Susan and I try to wiggle our toes; they wiggle but not in the order we try to wiggle them in. we will have to relearn how to use them.

Grandma looks at us, "Your parents don't know yet, do they"? "No, grandma, they don't, but if you lend me your phone, I'll get them down here." Grandma passes me her phone; my voice has changed slightly, unsure if dad will recognize it. I call the cold case office phone number.

Nick was hard at work with Judy; they talked over the latest case they had put together; when the phone rings, he sees that it’s his mom and answers. “Good Morning; you have reached the cold case office we aren’t in at the moment, but if you would like to leave us a message or tip, kindly leave us your name and number, and we’ll get back to you. Beeeep”. “Hey, dad, just thought you would like to come down to the hospital and say good morning, but if you’re not in, which I can see you are, I’ll just call back later, bye." With that, I hang up the phone. Grandma bursts out laughing, "Did he try the phony answering machine again"? I just nod, yes; she laughs a little harder. About twenty minutes later, mom and dad show up.

They rush into the ward, and seeing us up, hug us both. “When did you wake up, son”? “About four this morning, dad.” “I’m awake, too,” said Susan. “I can see that daughter," says dad bringing her into the same hug. We then link with our parents, siblings, and littermates at this point. They blow up in our minds with happiness. "Well, this is all well and good, but I have your chariot here to bring you to your private room," Grandpa says as he wheels a wheelchair in for us. We slide off the edge of the bed and try to stand. If not for our family's support, we would have fallen flat on our faces with the pain. “No more trying that for a while, you two; I see we are going to have to ease you into walking again.” Grandpa picks Susan up and places her in the chair; Dad and grandma support me to the chair as well.

We get to our new room; it is private; we look at grandpa quizzically. “I had you two moved here as a media storm is about to descend on you both. No one in Zootopia has forgotten about you two, especially since the government has released the truth of what happened”. “Oh, speaking of that,” dad hands us the laptop he had been carrying. “The chief wants his report on what happened in the warehouse on his desk by five this afternoon.” We both groan, “No rest for the weary,” I say. “What? you two have been doing nothing but sleep for the last five months.” We all laugh. We get hugs as everyone leaves; Bonnie was the last to leave; she hugs us hard, “I was right, this is the best birthday gift you could have ever given me." With that, she jumps down and is out the door.

It's kind of embarrassing to us to have to ask for help to use the bathroom, but we know this will only have to be for a short time. We get the Chief’s report done about an hour before he shows up. We have looked over the news releases on what happened and how much of the hero we were both made out to be. We wrote our report accordingly. The Chief comes in about an hour later.

"Good afternoon, you two. Do you have my report done"? For an answer, we hand him the laptop. He reads the report. "thank you; this is exactly what I needed; it fills in a few blanks." "Will you be becoming back to the force? You have done more in twenty months on the force than others, who will spend whole careers trying to equal, and I have missed you both; I would like my best officers back". "We're not sure, sir; we did commit premeditated murder after all." "I think you should explain yourselves." So, we did, we explained it all from our point of view. "Yes, I can see how you look at it, but I have to tell you, you are both wrong. You did what no one else could have done, and if the person who instigated it died, how is that your fault? You did your jobs; I can't absolve you of the sin you feel you have committed; only God could do that, but in my eyes, you did all you could, not to have that outcome. You did everything by the book. You gave him every chance to change the outcome, he refused them all, so in my eyes, it's not murder, and this is the last we will talk about this subject, agreed”? We have tears in our eyes as we nod yes.

“Good, now back to my original question, are you coming back"? "Yes, chief, we will, but if we can't walk…". "won't matter to me; I want your minds, and if your bodies are a little damaged, so be it, we will work around it." "Thanks, Chief." "Now no rushing, take all the time you need, when you are ready, you come back. Hopefully, the media storm will be over by then. And yes, we have a guard on your door at all times; they are there to protect you from the media and the looky-loos”. “sir, we can’t take officers off the job…”. “You aren’t; the mayor has hired the best security company in Zootopia to guard and protect you." "Sir later this week our daughter has requested us to be at her first gymnastic competition. We want to be there". "Shouldn't be a problem; just let the guard know what day and more security will be provided for the event." He wishes us a good afternoon as he heads out the door.

Later after supper, we are inundated by the whole family; we have a birthday party for Bonnie. Officers and family come and go during visiting hours, and we have a gay old time. Our daughter stays close to us the whole evening. We laugh and play silly games; by the end of it, we are exhausted. Shortly after everyone leaves, and a few passionate kisses, we fall asleep.

We wake up early and get up to some other activities, is it right? I don’t care; we both want to express our love for each other. We are cuddling when the day nurse comes in. Her nose twitches, and she starts to chuckle. “Well, I can smell what’s first on the agenda for the day.” With that, she opens a window. We didn’t know the windows open. She grabs us both and helps us use the facilities. Once done, she puts us in the tub. We have a leisure soak waiting for her to come back. We wiggle our toes and bend our legs, hoping they will work for us again. Once dry, we have breakfast. After we eat, we work our toes, paws, and knees again. Peter finds us doing this. "Very good, you two, a good start on physio."

He puts us in a wheelchair and wheels us down to the physio floor. They start us out in some water tanks. We are floating, but we have some pressure on our hind paws. We walk against the gentle current. It’s hard, and our hind paws scream at us the whole time. We are exhausted by the time they take us out. We have mom and dad bring us another laptop, and we start to go through cold cases with them. We don't make any connections this day, but we had given mom and dad some ideas to look at some other cases.

During visiting hours, the family again is in our room. When someone bursts through the door. We have never seen him before, but mom and dad tackle him to the ground before he can talk and cuff him. “Please just a few words with them.” “Not happening,” growls dad as he walks him out of the room. Dad and mom walk him down to a waiting cruiser. This individual complains all the way down to the lobby; he even threatens dad with a lawyer. Dad just laughs as he gives him our lawyer's card; Cindy could have a field day with him. They come back up to find the guard, making time with the nurse. He seems oblivious to what has just happened. He is fired the next day, and we never see him again.

We have four bodyguards when we go to the gymnastics event. There is some murmuring around the room, but none of the adults approach us. A few reporters are waiting for us outside the meet, but they are easy to push off after being reminded of what happened at the hospital. Our daughter won two events but was disappointed she didn't win more. We told her she would do better the next time. She hugs us as she and Grandma get out of the limo we had rented; well, to be truthful, we "Borrowed" it off of Mr. Big. Three of the guards get off at their office, and the last guard gets off with us. There are a few reporters at the hospital door. They throw questions at us as we are wheeled past; our only comment is "No comment." The day has taken a lot out of us; we fall asleep after only one kiss.

Later in the week, we wake up, slip from the bed, and grab our canes to make our way to the facilities. Yes, we were pushing ourselves, but the pain was less every day. We stand for a shower this morning, but we are exhausted by the end of it. Elisabeth and John visit every day; they heal any damage we may have done to our muscles. The knee and ankle joints are alright; it’s just the muscles we need to build up. What’s new for Susan are the claws she has on her back paws; she now has fox claws. Her rear paws also bend like fox paws, same with mine. It’s strange for us to stand on the balls of our hind paws; with our old paws, we were the quintessential flat paw. Being able to stand on our paw balls makes us seem taller when we stand up.

We walk out of the hospital Friday of the week following. We are using canes, but we are walking. We get home exhausted and collapse on the couch. Our daughter brings us some coffee. This was when we both found out what happened in the hospital. Elisabeth and John had fixed everything that was wrong with us; I mean EVERYTHING. Bonnie spilled the coffee on her mother, Susan hissed with pain, and we both looked with power to see how bad it was. It wasn't bad, but it showed us Susan was pregnant again. Well, bugger, we are not well enough for more children, but they were on the way.

"I'm so sorry, mom," said Bonnie as she put a cold compress on her belly where the coffee landed. We both just smile at her; as we pick her up and put her between us. "Bonnie, were you serious when you asked us about a brother"? Not really, I just don't want to be an only child, but it's ok". "How about two brothers"? "What are you saying, mom"? We can feel her getting hopeful. "Well, Elisabeth and John have fixed us up, and I mean they fixed everything. We are going to talk with them when they get home tonight". "But what does…". The light bulb goes off in her head.

“Really? Are you sure”? “Yes, Bonnie, your mother is pregnant with two brothers for you and two sons for us.” With our sensitive hearing, she almost deafened us with her shriek. She jumps down and starts to run around the living room, screaming she has a brother. Grandma comes in and looks at us. "Is it true"? we just nod, yes. She hugs us both and laughs. "Am I the second one to find out”? “you are grandma, two boys this time.” “well, darn, Peter won this time.”

We were shocked, we shouldn't be, but we were. “What? It seems that when you two come out of comas, you celebrate being alive, first Bonnie, and now two boys. I think you guys are going to have to stop going into comas.” "You're right, Grandma, but that's what couples do, celebrate, I mean. "Your right; we do, don’t we. The family bet on the outcome of you waking up this time.” She then turns and smiles at Bonnie, who continues to run around the room doing forward flips. The rest of the family was just as excited as Bonnie. Everyone gladly paid Peter, it wasn’t money, but everyone else had to entertain him with something. Next Friday night was quite a fun night; some did silly skits, some stories, Suzie sang, Bonnie displayed her gymnastic prowess, and William and Justin did a hilarious fight scene; we all had a good time watching.

We are almost up to running again when Susan has to slow down. I help her with the isometrics so she can stay in shape. Our legs hurt us less and less every day. When we walked into the precinct on canes, Clawhauser passed out; I think he was holding his breath. We hang around till he wakes up, then have to accept the life-threatening hug. We are still on medical leave but have to inform the Chief that we have to go on mat leave when done. He agrees and tells us to get out of his office. He would see to the paperwork. We go up and spend the afternoon with mom and dad in the cold case office. Again, it’s their show, but between us all, we make a few more connections for them to look into. The Chief had the paperwork ready at Clawhauser’s desk. We signed it on the way out.

Two days later was the press conference. We sat off to the side as the press assembled in front of the podium. We were in our uniforms, but they hung on us like sacks; we have lost a lot of muscle mass. The chief steps up to the microphone to get things started. “Good morning, ladies and gentle mammals of the press; you are here today to get some answers from the two officers involved with the bombing incident. Remember, they have only been awake and out of the hospital for a short time, So, keep your questions short and to the point. I now turn This press conference over to Daniel and Susan Wilde”.

We get up and, using our canes, shuffle to the podium, and up the stairs behind it. We have questions shouted at us from all directions, we both lower our ears, and I hold up my paw for silence. We don’t answer any questions; tell the room is silent. “Thank you all for coming; we will answer as many of your questions as we can, as long as the room stays quiet; our hearing is very sensitive right now, and loud noises hurt us. So, shall we begin”? I point to a reporter to our left.

He points a mic at us, "We have all been told that you stopped the bomb from destroying Zootopia; you directed the blast wave out over the bay. I find that hard to believe; if you did it, how did you do it"? "Well, sir, it's classified, but we can show you." Nothing happens for a few seconds when he then tries to move his mic. It is stuck fast on nothing. He pulls and pushes, but it doesn't move. He then lets go of it, and it stays stationary in mid-air. We had talked it over with Jack and felt a demonstration was in order. Most won't believe it anyway. The cameras point at the mic, and many flashes happen as pictures are taken. "As you can see, we can build a wall out of the air; this is what we used to redirect the blast. Sir if you would put your paw under the mic"? He does, and we drop the mic into his paw; he is visibly shaken.

We point to another reporter. "How did you learn to do that"? "Sorry, that's classified next." Susan points to another reporter. "How did you survive that blast? The whole district in front of that warehouse was wiped off the face of Zootopia, and what wasn't wiped off was fused into a glass-like surface.” "We survived because another individual gave his life so we could survive. We had help building the wall; Oscar Delaront helped us to build the wall. Just before the bomb went off, he used his life energy to build a shield around us; this helped us to survive; we are ever grateful to him. He gave his life to save us.” We shed some tears at this point; I then point to another.

“Who was this Oscar Delaront? And was he the one to teach you”? “He was our teacher in the martial arts, but no, he didn’t teach us how to do what we can do.” “So, who taught you, and can anyone learn to do that”? “Again, that’s classified, but if an individual has the right combination of circumstances happen to them, then yes, they can learn how to do this as well.” “What are those circumstances”? “Again, that’s classified, next.”

Chris puts his paw up; I point to him. “I know how complicated you two are, and this wasn’t the first time you have done this, is it”? “What are you referring to, Chris”? “I’m referring to the bus incident and the night howler incident.” "Yes, we used our abilities in those two incidents as well." "that's a little off-topic; can we bring it back, please"? “So, will you two be going back to the police department”? “yes, Chris, we will, not sure when that will happen, we have a long way to go to recovery; we were blown up after all.” We just smile as everyone breaks up laughing. Susan points to another reporter on the left.

"So, when are you due"? That was a bit of a shock, and it came right out of the left field. "I'm sorry, our personal life is not under discussion at this press conference." “but you are pregnant, aren’t you”? Before I can consult with Susan, she speaks up, “Yes, we are pregnant, and that’s the last question.” We turn and step down. All the reporters are clamoring for us to answer more questions. We just turn our backs and limp away.


End file.
